Centre to ask social media companies to block sensitive posts

Centre to ask social media companies to block sensitive posts

The government plans to meet senior representatives of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google soon to nudge them into acting on requests to pull down objectionable content, particularly uploads that may incite communal sentiments.

The meeting, which is likely to be attended by representatives of department of electronics and IT (DeitY), home ministry and the intelligence agencies, comes in the wake of the Dadri incident where rumours of cow slaughter allegedly led a mob to attack Mohammad Akhlaq, who later succumbed to his injuries, and his son Danish.

At the meeting, the government will impress upon social media giants headquartered outside India and registered under laws of their respective countries like the US, to cooperate with the Indian law enforcement agencies in tracking, scanning and blocking communal and offending posts in the larger interest of maintaining communal harmony.

"We will remind them to act with due diligence, which requires them to restrain communal and other content that violates Indian laws," a senior officer said adding that such an exercise to sensitize social media firms is held every three to four months.
According to sources, both Twitter and Facebook are often reluctant to pull down content seen as offending to communities, citing their respective privacy policies and refusal to prevent users from freely expressing their opinion.

During the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in UP, security agencies had blamed hate messages spread through social media platforms as a key cause of heightened tension among communities. Rumours spread through social media had caused panic among people from the Northeastern region living in Bangalore and its neighbouring cities, leading to a mass exodus in 2012.

Referring to the fake video that was allegedly used to fan Muzaffarnagar riots, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said at a meeting of National Integration Council on September 23, 2013: "We must find a way to stop misuse of social media". "We cannot let anti-national forces misuse social media. Social media is about expressing opinions freely and we need to maintain that sense of freedom," Singh had said.

Photo credit: Indiatimes

Check the latest facts on Covid-19 here. Times Fact ‘India Outbreak Report’ by TIMES NETWORK and Protiviti is a comprehensive analysis that highlights the impact of the pandemic in India and projects the possible number of active cases in the weeks ahead.